Historic neighborhood on the rebound

Updated 2:47 PM ET, Mon January 18, 2016

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

Jackson Smith Jr. was born and raised on Atlanta's Auburn Avenue during the civil rights era, across the street from Ebenezer Baptist Church. Smith attributes his success in life to the leadership of the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., or "Daddy King," at Ebenezer.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

A portrait of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. looks out from a restaurant window on Edgewood Avenue one block south of historic Auburn Avenue. Revitalization has taken hold quicker on Edgewood than on Auburn, though some call the development gentrification.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

Custom bricks line the walkway of Ebenezer Baptist Church, which stands across from the King Center in Atlanta. As generations leave the inner city and the church loses membership, members are trying to bring in donations through the bricks.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

Torrey Spivey and wife Shana own Your Vitamin Lady, a store on Auburn Avenue that sells herbs and homeopathic remedies. The business is popular with residents of low-income housing across the street. They say a new streetcar has brought more tourists to the King historic district but also more panhandlers.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

City officials hope a streetcar system that opened in late 2014 will bring new life to Sweet Auburn and Old Fourth Ward neighborhoods by creating a 2.7-mile loop between downtown hotels and convention centers to the King district, which includes the King Center, Ebenezer Baptist Church and Auburn Avenue.

Ricci de Forest is proprietor of the Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Shoppe Museum on Hilliard Street between Auburn Avenue and Old Wheat Street. The site of an original Madam C.J. Walker salon, the museum features antique hair-care products and marketing memorabilia from the era when Walker was one of few entrepreneurs targeting the African-American hair-care market. In addition to curating the haircare exhibit, de Forest, a stylist, sees clients in the salon and broadcasts a radio show under the call letters WERD, the first black-owned radio station, which started in the Prince Hall Grand Lodge above the salon.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

De Forrest fills his salon with remnants from the Jim Crow era. The museum is located below the former home of WERD radio, the first black-owned radio station in America, which King used to broadcast speeches and information related to the movement.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

Kasey Printup, 19, was born and raised on Auburn Avenue until her family moved to Stone Mountain in 2007. She misses the energy of the city.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

This mural of Rep. John Lewis on Jesse Hill Jr. Drive and Auburn Avenue was completed in 2012. Lewis has been active in the civil rights movement and has been elected to Congress 14 times.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

King's birth home is located on Auburn Avenue in an area experiencing gentrification in some parts and stalled development in others.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

As the sun sets, foot traffic begins to pick up on Edgewood Avenue, one block away from Auburn Avenue. Over the past decade, boarded-up storefronts have transformed into bars and restaurants as more young residents have moved to the inner city.

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Photos:Historic neighborhood on the rebound

Out-of-towners Melissa Stoller, Alec Gorynski and Rob Toney-Robinson enjoy the campy vibe at Sister Louisa's Church of the Living Room & Ping Pong Emporium on Edgewood Avenue. Simply known as Church to locals, the bar's launch in 2010 kicked off a nightlife renaissance in the area that draws massive crowds on the weekends, much to the chagrin of some locals who worry that the area is gentrifying.